Paul Jenft, Zélia Avesou and Sam Avesou qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

The Budapest OQS has come to an end, and with it the race for the Olympic ticket. And they did it! Our French climbers took all the places they had to take to qualify for the combined for the Paris 2024 Olympics. At the end of a grand final, Sam Avesou, in very good form, even won ahead of undeniable contenders for the medal. He, Zélia Allez and Paul Jenft will therefore defend France on the wall of the Parc des Sports de Bourget this summer.

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Uncompromising, Sam Allez pulls out all the stops in Budapest to win the OQS and qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics © Lena Drapells/IFSC

And that goes for Zélia Allez!

She will have scared us. The bouldering semi-final proved particularly difficult: Zélia, with only one top finish, still placed 7th. The problem is that despite this good ranking, his favorite discipline will have earned him few points and, in this configuration, such a semi-final rather gives the advantage to the referees.

After a good round of the block without being flamboyant, Zélia Allez had to achieve a good, difficult semi-final to ensure Olympic qualification. But here too, the path seems very difficult and the result is mixed. She is certain to finish ahead of her French teammates Manon Hily and Hélène Janicot, penalized by their shortcomings in blocks, but will that be enough to grab the last ticket in the women’s tricolor combined? We can only do one thing: wait, hold on and hope that she doesn’t fall too far down the rankings. The last competitor passes… Zélia finishes twelfth. With her eighth place last month in Shanghai, she had earned quite a few points. We do our calculations… And yes, it’s good! Zélia is qualified! She therefore joins Oriane Bertone to try to get a medal in Paris.

After these decisive semi-finals under very high tension, we witnessed a final without stakes but which gave us some information in view of the Paris Games. Brooke Raboutou (1st) survived throughout the competition and further confirms her status as an outsider (impossible to say favorite when there is Janja Garnbret) for the Olympics. Miho Nonaka (2nd), Erin McNeice (3rd) and Chaehyun Seo (5th) were also very strong and are all in good form just over a month before the Games.

Full OQS results here.

Here are the names of the 20 women qualified for the Olympic combined:

Via the OQS:

Zhilu Luo (CHN)

Zélia Avesou (FRA)

Erin McNeice (GBR)

Molly Thompson-Smith (GBR)

Lucia Dörffel (GER)

Camilla Moroni (ITA)

Laura Rogora (ITA)

Miho Nonaka (JPN)

Chaehyun Soe (KOR)

Mia Krampl (SLO)

Ievgeniaa Kazbekova (UKR)

Brooke Raboutou (USA)

Via the world championships and TQO:

Oceana Mackenzie (AUS)

Jessica Pilz (AUT)

Zhang Yuetong (CHN)

Oriane Bertone (FRA)

Ai Mori (JPN)

Janja Garnbret (SLO)

Lauren Mukheibir (RSA)

Natalia Grossman (USA)

Sam Avesou as boss, Paul Jenft narrowly

Three French climbers for only two Olympic places. The result was going to be cruel, especially since Mejdi Schalck, Paul Jenft and Sam Allez, since the OQS in Shanghai, are playing at an equivalent level and with each passing round, their invariably close score only postponed the inevitable. One of them will not go to the Games.

By finishing ninth after the semi-finals, Paul no longer had his fate in his hands. Mejdi and Sam therefore had to give everything to make up for the 7 and 5 points (respectively) ahead that Paul Jenft had taken during the Chinese stage last month. Mejdi, above all, was condemned to the feat and had to either finish two places ahead of Sam or grab a podium.

The turn of the block is particularly challenging. On the first three blocks, no top. Ouch, that doesn’t help matters for Mejdi, whose bouldering is precisely his specialty. Moreover, it must be conceded, the young French climber seems to be under pressure and is not climbing completely free. After a quick top of block 4 by Adam Ondra, first to go, we say to ourselves that at least there is a block there to get points. Unfortunately for him, Mejdi does not find the solution and we feel a certain physical fatigue, the consequence of these four successive days of competition. But Sam doesn’t flinch. Already quite comfortable on the previous blocks since he had validated all the upper zones, he flashes this block 4 and ranks first at the end of the round, at the same time taking a very good option for the future.

Schalck must therefore go very high on this final path if he wants to hope to qualify. And we have reason to believe in this feat: the day before, in the semi-final, he had rewarded us with a run of exceptional difficulty to advance to the final. But this final route, just like the tour of the block, turns out to be very hard and the verdict is in: 39.1 points for Mejdi, that risks being short. The response is not long in coming since it is Allezou who rushes after him. Sam is progressing well, climbing high, very high and well beyond Mejdi’s mark. He falls, glances worriedly at the rankings… and explodes with joy. He did it ! Like his sister the day before, Sam qualifies for the Paris 2024 Games. The embrace with Mejdi is heartbreaking but Sam was undeniably stronger that day. So strong that he even finished as the winner of the OQS, ahead of Dohyun Lee and Adam Ondra. Mejdi’s performance will not allow him to stay in the top 3, so Paul Jenft qualifies alongside Sam Avesou.

Full OQS results here.

Here are the 30 men qualified for the Olympic combined:

Via the OQS:

Hannes van Duysen (BEL)

Yufei Pan (CHN)

Adam Ondra (CZE)

Alberto Ginés López (ESP)

Sam Avesou (FRA)

Paul Jenft (FRA)

Hamish McArthur (GBR)

Yannick Flohé (GER)

Alexander Megos (GER)

Dohyun Lee (KOR)

Luka Potocar (SLO)

Sacha Lehmann (SUI)

Via the world championships and TQO:

Campbell Harrison (AUS)

Jakob Schubert (AUT)

Toby Roberts (GBR)

Sorato Anraku (JPN)

Tomoa Narasaki (JPN)

Mel Janse van Rensburg (RSA)

Colin Duffy (USA)

Jesse Grupper (USA)

Quickly, Capucine Viglione and Manon Lebon validate their ticket!

With her seventh place at the end of the Shanghai OQS, Capucine Viglione was almost already assured of finishing first French and therefore of winning the Olympic ticket reserved for France, host country of the Games. It was still necessary to assume this position of national favorite, which the French record holder did perfectly by once again finishing seventh in the competition.

After a fall during her first run, Manon Lebon finally managed to qualify for the final stages, allowing herself to believe in participating in the Olympics. To do this, she had to beat Natalia Kalucka, who is none other than the world number 1! And like thunder, Manon takes advantage of the Polish woman’s mistakes and wins her duel. The upset is crazy and allows Manon to take her ticket to Paris.

Full results here.

Among the men, however, the distance was too great for our two Frenchmen Pierre Rebreyend and Guillaume Moro.

All places have been allocated and we now know all the athletes who will represent French climbing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Here is the composition of the French Olympic climbing team:

Combined Block/Difficulty: Oriane Bertone, Zélia Allez, Paul Jenft and Sam Allez
Speed ​​: Bassa Mawem, Capucine Viglione and Manon Lebon.